Strong earthquake in central Philippines damages building and sends people out of their homes

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A strong offshore earthquake of magnitude 6.9 shook the central Philippines late Tuesday, injuring several villagers, damaging stone and concrete buildings and sending people scrambling out of their homes, officials said.

The earthquake was centered about 17 kilometers (10 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people, where the intense shaking damaged concrete walls of houses and a fire station, knocked out power in the city and caused deep cracks on asphalt roads, firefighter Rey Cañete said.

“We were in our barracks to retire for the day when the ground started to shake and we rushed out but stumbled to the ground because of the intense shaking,” Cañete told The Associated Press by telephone, adding that he and three other firemen sustained cuts and bruises.

A concrete wall in their fire station collapsed, Cañete said. He and fellow firefighters provided first-aid to at least three residents, who were injured by falling debris and collapsed walls, including an elderly man with head injuries who they took to a nearby hospital, he said and added that more residents may have likely been injured due to the intense shaking.

Hundreds of terrified residents gathered in the darkness in a grassy field near the fire station and refused to return home hours after the earthquake struck in Bogo in Cebu province. Several business establishments visibly sustained damages and the asphalt and concrete roads where they passed had deep cracks, Cañete said, adding that an old Roman Catholic church in Daanbantayan town near Bogo was also damaged.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a tsunami warning and advised people to stay away from the coastlines in Cebu and in the nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to possible waves of up to 1 meter (3 feet).

Teresito Bacolcol, director of the institute, told The AP that the tsunami warning was later lifted with no unusual waves being monitored.

Central Philippine provinces were still recovering from a storm that hit on Friday, leaving at least 27 people dead mostly due to drownings and falling trees, knocking out power in entire cities and towns and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.

The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.